Journal of Our Honeymoon on Skates
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Journal of Our Honeymoon on Skates |
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Paul & I had the most wonderful time in Europe, skating most of the towns we visited. The phrase for our trip is: 'hot cakes'. The word: 'formaggio'. we'll tell you why in just a bit... Our planning consisted of booking a hotel for our first 2, last 2 and one night in Venice as well as a rental car with a trunk. 5 nights out of 21 seemed nice & spontaneous which was perfect for us. After all, we had a car to sleep in if necessary. Our luck began by getting the bulkhead seats directly behind business class (although we were unable to sleep for any portion of the 9 hour flight). We left Atlanta late Monday, April 9th on a direct flight to Munich, arriving Tuesday morning, Munich time (6 hours difference). We found our way to a bus, then a U-train, then skated the rest of the way to our hotel which was in an awesome part of town, so close to everything. We were able to check in early and get a couple of zzzzz's. I (cindy) didn't realize I should have studied german/deutsch so all we had was a little phrase book which was nearly useless. Thank goodness so many people spoke english. We went to dinner, eating roasted suckling schwein (pig) and kartoffel (potato) dumplings which now I want on a regular basis. We drank a couple of beers each and skated back to bed. After renting an Audi, we left Germany on Thursday and 'slowly' headed toward Venice. The autobahn/strasse was mild in comparison to the autostrada in Italy. Cars whizzed by us as if we were standing still. We averaged about 130kph. TRENTO: We stopped in a 'little' town called Trento. We thought it was little, but found out later, 130,000 people lived there. In the hotel parking lot, an Italian business man named Vincenzo approached us. We were a bit leary, but I kept telling myself, let go of American cautions; talk to strangers... Vincenzo found we were Americans. He spoke broken English, but we were able to converse equally in both languages which made me giddy (I'm so hard to make happy). This was the perfect time for me to use my Italian Laurie & I have been studying for 6months - a year. He wanted to show us the city since he was here on business and had nothing else to do for the night. We toured about half of the town, beautiful chiesas and duomo (churches). Paul & I came back and skated some of it including the university which was in the old Trento area. Student dancers performed and I tried to dance with them on skates. I looked pretty ridiculous, but it was fun. Vincenzo and his co-worker friend waited on us to finish dinner at the restaurant which served some amazing pickled little onions. We toured more of the town with our two new italian friends. They insisted on buying us gelati. I had 3 scoops of 3 flavors. sooo good. What wonderful men and a great town to begin our italian adventures. VENICE: The next morning we headed off to Venice, the italian city known for romance and gondolas. We arrived early and had the whole day to explore the city. We were told we wouldn't be able to skate there. Untrue. What a city to get lost in!!!! It was truly a maze. It would have been so fun to lead a skate through this town. We stayed in a cute little apartment that overlooked a little street. We could see into and almost jump into the window of the building across the way. We enjoyed wine, coffee and pastries. Completely lost for an hour, we were a bit frustrated since it began to sprinkle, but alas, we brought an umbrella and found our way home. We dined on cuttlefish ink dyed spaghetti & veal. yummy. of course, wine was involved. Food, wine & water are so cheap in Italy & Germany, it was almost a shame we don't drink much... but we ate our share. The big find in Venice was the American Express office that didn't charge a fee to cash traveller's checks. Hey, I'm cheap. VICENZA: for the next two weeks, we had no hotels booked... Saturday before Easter Sunday, we travelled and skated through another small town called Vicenze. We met an army guy on K2 skates and impressed folks with our death spiral at the Piazza dei Signori. Beautiful architecture. Another fun day, but it was almost easter sunday and we hadn't secured a hotel yet. We planned to meet Allan & Kim from Zephyr Inline Tours on Sunday in Verona so we drove to Verona and felt like our good luck had run out when we searched several hotels and found nothing in our price range. Luckily after driving aimlessly for about an hour, we found Hotel Maxim on the outskirts of town. It was also across from a church. Paul was stressed from the drive so we didn't go out to eat. Instead it was a ration of chocolate and wine. such a hard life. VERONA: We awoke to the sound of church bells, loud and echoing, 'get out of bed and get to easter church'. After all, we were in Italy on Easter, how cool is that?! We checked out of that hotel since we didn't know what Allan & Kim had planned. For all we knew we'd be leaving Verona as soon as we met. After being pooped upon by a pidgeon while waiting for Paul to take a picture, we met Allan & Kim under the Arco della Costa, a giant whale's rib hanging in the Piazza Erbe. I skated through some horse poop also here in Verona. I was later told that these were both signs of luck. We were stopped by a young man on his bike. He asked us if we thought Verona was skate-able. His family owned a couple of rental 'shops' in Verona that rented bikes, scooters, etc. to tourists. Upon finding how involved in skating we actually were, he mentioned that his brother, Luca, was a skating instructor. He brought us back to meet his father who was such a nice, happy man. Luca and a couple of his skater friends arrived. We asked if they wanted to do a street skate with us. Since Allan and Kim wanted to check out the Colliseum before it closed, only 5 of us went out. We skated through the Verona streets and saw the Romeo & Juliet balcony as well as the Juliet statue where people run her bronzed breasts and other areas for luck. We also saw the tombs of the ruling family and many other intown landmarks. While hanging out with these locals, we discovered that they had a Tuesday night skate. Andrew thought about 30-40 people would show. We said we would most likely be there. Back in the hotel, we met up with Allan & Kim, eating chocolate & drinking wine. ROVERETO: Driving behind Allan was like a street skate that Paul leads. He really liked the little one-lane roads up the mountains. Paul was having a great time being able to enjoy someone else taking the helm. We stopped for lunch in a vineyard. Not a restaurant, an actual vineyard. We sat between the rows of vines and ate their cheese, bread, chocolate & strawberries. All we had to offer were pistachios. We hadn't been to the grocery store since Germany. oops. I've never stayed in a youth hostel. I feel it's part of the European travelling culture. Since we couldn't find a hotel for under $200,000 Lire (about $100), we decided a youth hostel would have to do. At 28,000 Lire/per person, we were pumped. It even had a shower and a toilet in each room. It was a horribly tiny bathroom with no shower curtain, but it was our own. After securing lodging, we went out for a skate. The skate started out to be a little skate to find how good the trail was. After all, Allan & Kim were reconning sights for potential Italian skate tours. The little skate ended up being a skate all the way to Trento (the town we stayed in 3 nights beforehand). On the way there, we passed an old castle on the hill and met a couple of skaters who lived in Trento. Geoff who commutes from Trento to Milan every week offered a free place to stay if we found ourselves in Milan during the week. While eating a little lunch just outside of Trento, it began to rain. agh! We skated 1 1/2 hours back in the rain. Our bearings were fried. Paul's were already fried after getting caught in the rain a couple of days ago. I guess that excess energy expended forcing his bearings to work, dehydrated him. He wasn't feeling well at all when we returned. Paul had pizza of the seasons (each 1/4 of his pizza was different). I had pizza with white asparagi. It was asparagus season. What an awesome suprise! Paul finally started feeling a bit better before hitting the sack (bunk beds actually). VERONA: After playing with Allan & Kim at the castle we passed while skating yesterday, we headed back to Verona for the night skate. We were so excited. We found a Holiday Inn which had an internet computer we could use and went grocery shopping. More chocolate and wine, please. We arrived at the night skate just before 9pm. Everyone was so nice and helpful and excited that we returned to Verona just for the skate. The 30-40 skaters that Andrew thought would show up, ended up being about 150 of the nicest, coolest skaters ever. Say, 'Formaggio' for the camera. Lots of dark pictures that night. Skating for about 2 1/2 hours, in and just barely outside the city of Verona via the bridges that crossed the city's mote, we stopped and played several times and did a 'train'. It was so much fun! I felt like such a kid! The 'train' whipped me so hard, I gave up trying to hold on and just laughed so hard at everyone else. The trains were 20-40 people long in a little outside mall-like area with smooth pavement/floor. This was absolutely the MOST FUN skate Paul or I have EVER done. FLORENCE: On the night skate, I had fallen and had a big wound on my knee. I was also coming down with a cold or maybe an allergic reaction to all the cigarette smoke, I don't know. We headed off for Florence for 3 days which was beautiful but I didn't feel like venturing out much for the first day or so. We did see Michaelangelo's Statue of David and a several other landmarks. The worst meal and one of our best meals on this trip was here in Florence. Worst meal was because of the server. The best was just an awesome experience. The waitress reminded us of Patricia. The food was fabulous. Paul asked the waitress for some absynthe. She brought out Grappa and liquid chocolate. They leave you the bottles and you serve yourself. Paul was buzzed. Then, I wanted to join in but wanted dessert wine to do it. Again, she left the whole bottle. We finished it off like champions. The family next to us with older teens were having the best time with their waitress too. She stumbled with an empty coffee cup and freaked the dad out who had a pressed white shirt on and had been drinking the grappa and chocolate like Paul. MILAN: It's now Saturday with just more than a week to go... We drive to Pisa and visit the Leaning Tower. Pretty funny. We also drove through Genoa, a huge port city. Lots of big boats. We rested our heads in Milan for the next 2 nights. Milan was fun to skate. Lots of parks, cafes and candy. We found lots of skaters in Milan, but no K2's anywhere, not even in the skate shops. So we left K2 and Explore stickers everywhere we went. Laurie mentioned the Galleria gelati is supposed to be the best, so that was our goal for the day, gelati at the Galleria. Scrumpdileicious. Expensive at $6.00/ea, but worth it, at least once. We met skaters inside the Galleria and spun on the bull's scrotum for luck (a tradition). Our last night in Milan, we learned never to ask an Italian for directions. It was late on Sunday night and not many restaurants were open. Paul was cranky and we needed food now. After walking a mile looking for a restaurant that was 50 meters away from the hotel, we ate a fabulous meal of italian specialties and said, 'Arrivederci, Italia'. CIAO, ITALY: From Milan we drove to Luzern, Switzerland. We heard there was a beautiful skate path and we wanted to find it. The hotel concierge showed us how we could hop on it just outside the doors, literally. The plan was to skate into the city and eat. We somehow (I was leading at this point for some reason), missed the turn and ended up skating further away from Luzern. Oh well. We skated back to the hotel, got in our car and took the American way of getting to dinner. Wonderful food & chocolate mousse for dessert. You know, the food would be even better if the Europeans didn't smoke so much. Maybe they have no tastebuds left so the flavors must be perfect. HAUSEN VOR DER HOHE, Germany: This is the town near Wiesbaden where I spent a part of my early childhood. I was an AirForce brat and lived in Germany 3 years. My mother so wanted us to visit the Lueckoff's, friends of my mother and deceased father while we were here. I am so pleased we went for 2 days and nights. German hospitality. Wow. We were sent home with a German book, gummy-teddies (real gummy bears), licorice, homemade marzapan & pastries (son-in-law is a confectioneer), wine, and so many memories including drinking Augustiner bier for the first hanghover of the trip. The story of the hot cakes: Kai, Ingrid's son who is 25, was in the military and brought in 'hot cakes'. These are the biscuits inside of the military rations. They use them like we would crackers, but also, they use the to light fires. They cover them in shoe polish and light them to get the fire blasting. Hot Cakes! MUNCHEN: After a day in Augsburg and a night just outside of Munich, we checked into our hotel where we would stay for the last 3 nights before leaving for Atlanta on Monday. We skated the city and checked out Olympiapark, the home of the 1972 Olympics. It reminded me of Central Park. It had an indoor ice rink and other attractions such as an indoor skatepark, tennis courts, track, etc. That was fun, but the real fun began the next day when Utta (a German skater who lived and skated in Atlanta for some time) called us to go play. We skated all throughout the Englischer Garten, watched the surfers surf the Isar River which flowed through the middle of Munchen, ate gelati and finished the day with a beer from the Chinese Tower Bier Garten. I've been wanting bratwurst or german sausages since we arrived. I finally got my wish. I was soooo happy. Happy, happy, happy. We skated home happy, happy, happy. I love Munich's bike lanes. Everyone who drives stops BEFORE the crosswalks and looks both ways before approaching the intersection. The next day was beautifully sunny and hot. It was Sunday, our last day in Europe. We got dressed and dawned our skates. We drank coffee, ate strawberries and brochen (semin to southern germans) with preserves and meat spread. And we were off for a wonderful day in Olympiapark. We'd heard that skaters meet between the icerink and the tv tower to skate cones on a slalom course. We eagerly awaited their arrival. In the meantime, we played and met lots of skaters with K2's. For we found out later that munich was K2's European HQ. Paul & I played with other couples who wanted to learn to dance on skates. Luckily, Walter, a fantastic old school skater started talking to Paul. Come to find out that because it was kid day at the park (tomorrow is May Day), all that congestion kept them from setting up their regular slalom course. They moved it to around the corner. We hung out with all his buddies for a couple of hours. They taught me 'gummy fusse' (gummy feet). I taught them 'crazy legs' and the grape vine going through the cones. The Munich skaters set up their cones about a foot closer than we were accustomed to. Paul skated his back cross perfectly and with speed by departure time. yea! but I was still knocking down every other cone on my back cross. We'll be setting up cones differently now here in Atlanta. Hee hee hee. Walter invited us to skate with him and drink with his friends at the other Bier Garten in the Englischer Garten. How could we turn him down. Such a great guy and it sounded like huge fun for a perfect send-off and end to our trip. We met up with about 10 of his friends. We ran out of room at their table so we made friends with the people next to it and sat there. Germans are so nice. We ate even more German sausages, drank a couple more biers and took lots of pictures. Good thing for automatic focus! CIAO, GERMANY: Germans in the south tend to say 'ciao' instead 'auf wiedersehn' when saying
bye to friends. The next day was Monday, our travel day back to the states. We got up early
to find a store that was open so we could buy a 'Radler' bier which means 'cyclist' as well as
buying more wine and chocolate. We couldn't find the bier, but our suitcase was loaded with
wine and chocolate that should last us about a week.
With all this eating, Paul somehow managed to lose 10 pounds. We were both pretty pumped about
that. He's starting to look 'gut' around his gut! Paul says, 'bite me'.
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